President Obama begins his working visit to Russia.

MOSCOW, July 6 (Itar-Tass) - U.S. President Barrack Obama will begin
his first visit to Russia in his capacity as the head of state on Monday.

The U.S. president will spend two days ahead of the G-8 summit in Moscow
where he will meet his Russian opposite number Dmitry Medvedev. Obama will
also meet Russian businessmen and representatives of civil society.
Obama's visit to Russia has the status of a working one. Both sides
have decided to reduce to minimum all protocol formalities and focus on
the summit's agenda.
President Obama, his wife Michelle and two daughters will arrive in
Moscow on Monday afternoon. Prior to meeting the Russian president Barrack
Obama will lay a wreath at the Grave of an Unknown Soldier near the
Kremlin wall. After that he and Dmitry Medvedev will hold talks in the
Kremlin first in a narrow format in the presence of foreign policy
advisers, the Russian foreign minister and the U.S. Secretary of State.
Members of the Russian and U.S. delegations will join the talks later in
the day.
According to the Russian president's aide Sergei Prikhodko, President
Medvedev and Barrack Obama will sign a package of documents upon the
completion of the talks including documents on START, nuclear cooperation,
Afghanistan and transit of cargoes to that country, as well as military
cooperation. The Russian and U.S. presidents will also give a news
conference.
The Kremlin press service has accredited a record number of 855
journalists who will cover the Russian-U.S. summit.
Dmitry Medvedev and Barrack Obama will continue their conversation at
an informal dinner late on Monday. It will be given in honor of the U.S.
president and his wife in the Gorki country residence near Moscow.
President Obama will start his working day on Tuesday with meeting
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Barrack Obama will also attend a
ceremony of presentation of diplomas to the graduates of the High School
of Economics and will meet representatives of Russian public and political
organizations.
Together with President Medvedev Obama will talk to participants in
the Russian-American business summit to be organized by the Russian Union
of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs at the American Chamber of Commerce.
The captains of the Russian and American business including the heads of
leadings U.S. companies are expected to gather there.
The Russian and U.S. presidents will meet vis-а-vis once again on
Tuesday evening to summarize the results of their talks.
President Obama will leave Moscow for the G-8 summit in Italy early on
Wednesday, July 8.
Senator Obama first visited Russia in August 2005 together with
Senator Richard Lugar. He and Lugar arrived in Perm, near the Urals
Mountains, to see how a U.S-funded program of liquidation of obsolete
Russian strategic weapons was being implemented. It was then that their
plane was detained at Perm airport for three hours as a result of
misunderstanding. The thing is that the Perm airport was not included in
the Treaty on Open Skies. Obama and Lugar were allowed to leave Perm
safely after the Russian side found out who owns the plane. The Russian
Foreign Ministry presented official apologies to the American side for the
inconveniences caused to the U.S. senators. The U.S. State Department
said, in turn, that the U.S. administration didn't have any grievances
against Russia over the incident.

.Patriarch Krill calls for Christian-Muslim dialogue.

ISTANBUL, July 6 (Itar-Tass) - Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
Kirill who is paying a visit to Turkey called for a dialogue between
Christians and Muslims at a meeting with Turkish Deputy Minister of
Culture and Tourism Ozgur Ozaslan.
The meeting was held in the Church of St. Irina late on Sunday. This
church was never used as a mosque in the post-Christian time when
Byzantine fell after being conquered by the Ottoman Empire. The church has
a museum and a concert hall.
"I am convinced that relations between Russia and Turkey should have a
religious component. It's important to include the subject of a
Muslim-Christian dialogue in these relations," the head of the Russian
Orthodox Church said.
Patriarch Kirill noted that it was not enough to develop relations
just in the spheres of politics and economy, because religion implies
emotions and heartiness that are indispensable for friendship.
"In my face you will find a reliable partner for these programs,"
Patriarch Kirill told the Turkish deputy minister.
For his part, Ozgur Ozaslan said that the patriarch's visit would
expand ties between representatives of various confessions and peoples. He
said that the Chuch was setting a good example of religious tolerance.
"Your visit is creating new opportunities for developing
Russian-Turkish ties, the public opinion is interested in your visit,"
Ozaslan emphasized.